Google introduces slate of features for newspapers, Print Ad users

By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor

Google is ready to ramp up the digital offerings it’s designed to help reinforce the value of newsprint.
Google's Print Ads project now has 750 newspapers participating, giving
marketers an ever-growing number of places to bid on available ad space, according to Smita Hashim, Print Ads' group product manager. The Print Ads service, launched 18 months ago, lets newspapers offer both premium and unsold inventory spots available to advertisers.

Because the service is intended to encourage newspapers and advertisers to actively negotiate final prices, rejection rates can vary widely, up to 60 percent at certain newspapers, said Stephanie Davis, Print Ads' head of publisher business development.

"A low rejection rate is not necessarily a goal of ours and is not reflective of the program's success because we purposely built a feedback loop into our system through which advertisers and publishers are intended to negotiate back and forth," a Google spokesman added.

Still, Hashim said Google is examining ways to broaden Print Ads and make it a more compelling alternative to advertisers.

"We are working with other publications including college papers, Spanish-language papers and alternative weeklies, and we are beginning to find advertisers interested in theses niches," she said.

Google also plans to launch new services to bolster Print Ads, including an analytics tool to help newspapers judge how effective they are at reaching their local market, and a tagging method that helps advertisers measure consumer reaction to specific ad campaigns.

The analytics software, to be released later in 2008, will provide a foundation that will enable both newspapers and advertisers to determine an ad’s impact, Hashim said.

“Measurement is paramount to advertisers and publishers; everyone wants to know how an ad did and whether it was worth their while,” she said.

A key part of the analytics app is to enable advertisers to track the effectiveness of their ads, Hashim said.

“For each campaign they will be able to go and look at the newspaper at the DMA level and be able to see how many visits the newspaper Web site receives on specific ads,” she said.

Advertisers already have an option to track ad effectiveness by adding a Google call-tracking code overlaid on contact phone numbers used in an ad. Google records the number of calls and origin area codes that are made by consumers responding to the ads.

Google tested the tagging method with Blue Nile, the online jewelry and diamond retailer. The tags, which include a Web address, SmartCode logo and Google Search phone number, enabled Google to track consumer response, Hashim said.

“We put the tag on and omitted it in several different markets and the response was overwhelmingly higher in the markets with the tag,” Hashim said. “We are going to be pushing on that a little bit more and try to see what other ads are connecting better with the reader because if readers have a good response then advertisers see a positive response and that results in more monetization for the newspapers.”

The new services come on the heels of other steps Google has taken to bolster Print Ads.

Last fall, for example, Google introduced a newspaper ad creation tool that allows its AdWords advertisers to generate display ads. All the advertiser has to do is enter the information, upload an image or logo and choose the size of the ad. After the material is entered, users can then choose from several layouts.

Google added support for color ads in February, Hashim said.

“Newspapers are telling us which sections can support color, and at this point we have more than 100 newspapers offering color ads through the system,” Hashim said.

Additionally, Google rolled out AdPacks, an ad promotion that lets advertisers buy a specific number of ads in a specific section, all for a single quoted price.

Print and online symbiosis

Hashim said the new Google services should further help newspapers promote the notion that advertisers use both print and online products to reach their audiences.

“We believe in mixed-media allocations and believe newspapers represent a good opportunity for our advertisers to expand their consumer base,” she said. “One of the things we like to do is make their campaigns more targeted for the advertisers and we have been running a series of promotions within the AdWords front-end.”

Google also touts newspapers to advertisers that are focusing on a region in which a newspaper partner operates, Hashim said, by showcasing Print Ads as an option.

“Using a tool like Print Ads gives advertisers a better starting point so hopefully they are making offers to newspapers that are more palatable,” Hashim said.